Recipe

• 2oz gin
• 2oz Cheribundi tart cherry juice
• 1.5oz lime juice
• 1oz simple syrup (adjust to taste)
• Dash of bitters (I used Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Soda water

Shake all ingredients except soda water with ice, and strain over fresh crushed ice. Top off with soda water (1oz or so) and crack some more fresh pepper over top.

About

When I was in high school, a weekly go-to stop in the afternoons was Sonic for their “happy hour” half-price drink specials (ok, I’m not proud of how much soda I consumed…) Sonic is a southern-based American fast food chain, and man they were/are the king of drinks, most famous for their cherry limeades and customizable sodas (they have SO many flavor add-ins).

When I got a bottle of Cheribundi tart cherry juice, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. This juice is way more natural than the artificial syrups I’m sure they use at Sonic, and actually tastes like dried tart cherries. It’s not from concentrate, tart yet drinkable, and super tasty.

I wanted to keep the flavors simple to recreate my nostalgic cherry limeade (I mean, that was pretty much just cherry syrup, lime, and Sprite), yet add something to make it a bit more special to satisfy my now-much-more-complex taste preferences. This did this trick.